IHnber a Bogwoc^ witb /IDontatgne 



under it may, as did Montaigne himself, 

 sometimes construe pleasure to mean too 

 much for safe morals. 



Set a rogue to catch a rogue ; but a 

 philosopher is a poor spy. I am not sur- 

 prised at Emerson's failure to detect Mon- 

 taigne. Goethe and Byron fell further 

 short. The sage of Perigord took himself 

 flagrante delicto, and was delighted with 

 turning himself over bodily to justice. 

 His philosophy forced him upon his own 

 boar-spear, where he writhed, greatly 

 amused, as a dreadful example of what 

 man looked like, viewed from his window. 

 He knew that no man's knowledge was 

 complete, be the man saint or sinner, Pope 

 or reformer, and his ** que scays je? " was 

 but the radical sign over the doubt of each 

 honest soul. How far, in fact, does my 

 absolute knowledge go? The root of the 

 problem is plus or minus, but never a per- 

 fect number to any person. 



Montaigne did not philosophize for 



philosophers ; the estimate of his work 



with a pen, recorded by himself, is that it 



suits the need of average men. What 



285 



